Hitzfeld names youthful Switzerland squad

Ottmar Hitzfeld has named a young Switzerland squad to travel to Brazil for the FIFA World Cup next month.

Published

13 May 2014

There are no players currently over 30 years of age in a youthful party to travel to the finals, with Swiss fans hoping the likes of Bayern Munich's Xherdan Shaqiri can fire them into the knockout stages.

Hitzfeld's men were placed in the draw as one of the top seeds due to their ranking at the time, and have been drawn in Group E, against France, Honduras and Ecuador.

Bayern's Shaqiri is the star name in the squad, and is fit after recovering from a thigh injury suffered in a Bundesliga match against Augsburg in April 5.

Likewise goalkeeper Diego Bengaglio and defenders Philippe Senderos and Fabian Schar have all overcome knocks and feature in the squad which shows few surprises.

Bayer Leverkusen's Eren Derdiyok misses out on being included in the 23 after starting just four Bundesliga games for Bayer Leverkusen this season.

The striker is included on the standby list, as is Fulham's Pajtim Kasami, who Hitzfeld explained had not been playing regularly enough for his club side.